Rum, sex and scandal? What's not to love? I'm betting the pitch meeting went something like this:

"It's the Latino Godfather."
"Can we get Jimmy Smits?"
"Yes."
"Who do I make the check out to?"

What CBS has ended up with is a little less Godfather and a lot more Dallas, but it's still got TV heavyweight Jimmy Smits at its center. That may just be good enough to score CBS a hit.